Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Patent
1991-05-23
1993-01-26
Albritton, C. L.
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
21912178, 376260, B23K 2600
Patent
active
051824299
ABSTRACT:
Both a system and method are provided for laser welding the inner walls of conduits, such as the sleeves used to repair the heat exchanger tubes of nuclear steam generators. The system generally comprises an elongated tubular housing, a fiber-optic cable for conducting remotely generated laser light into the tubular housing, a beam deflection mechanism supported within the distal end of the tubular housing and including a rotating mirror for radially reflecting and focusing light received from the fiber-optic cable around the inner wall of the sleeve, and a tracking assembly mounted on the distal end of the tubular housing for maintaining a constant radial distance between the mirror of the beam deflection mechanism and the inner wall of the sleeve despite any irregularities which may be present in the roundness of the sleeve. The tracking assembly includes at least one roller which is resiliently mounted in the tubular housing of the system behind the front portion of the mirror of the beam deflection mechanism. To facilitate mirror replacement, the distal end of the tubular housing is easily removable. To ensure reliable rotation of movement, an electric motor and gear train is mounted in the proximal end of the tubular housing. Finally, the fiber-optic cable that extends through the proximal end of the tubular housing is configured to traverse the electric motor and drive train with a single S bend in order to maintain a high light transmission efficiency through the cable.
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Anderson John J.
Lutz Rodney A.
Pirl William E.
Roth, Jr. Charles H.
Smith Edward H.
Albritton C. L.
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
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